St. Paul Pioneer Press tech blog by Julio Ojeda-Zapata

Your Tech Weblog

St. Paul Pioneer Press tech blog by Julio Ojeda-Zapata

Facing MOA stores, dueling tablets: Which should you get?

During a single, slightly surreal week in late October and early November, I traveled to the Mall of America not once but twice to watch frenetic tech-gadget unveilings featuring brightly attired technology-retail workers clapping and cheering in roughly the same shopping-complex space. (I shot the footage above.)

On October 26, Microsoft rolled out the long-awaited Surface tablet, which is a direct challenge to Apple’s iconic, wildly popular iPad. The Surface rollout, coinciding with the debut of Windows 8 for notebook and desktop PCs, drew a sizable crowd at the Mall of America’s Microsoft store.

On Nov. 2 it was Apple’s turn, offering up a smaller or “mini” version of the iPad to shorter lines than usual at its megamall outlet, which faces its retail rival. Microsoft must have felt smug that its Surface and Windows 8 unveiling at the MOA drew several times as many tech enthusiasts.

They saw about 11 iPads being sold per hour, but no Surfaces sold, according to figures released today by Piper Jaffray’s Gene Munster in a note to investors.

He calculated 47 percent less foot traffic at the Microsoft store than the Apple store, with shoppers grabbing 17.2 items per hour at the Apple store compared to about 3.5 at the Microsoft store – all but two of these Xbox games.

(One methodology oddity here: Piper monitored the Apple store for eight hours but the Microsoft store for just two hours.)

Along these lines, here’s a Black Friday comparison of Apple and Microsoft stores in Colorado (MacWeekend.com via Forbes and Fortune):

Soon after the iPad mini release, Apple announced it had sold 3 million iPads in 36 hours. That figure includes the new, full-size, fourth-generation iPad as well as the mini but is still very good.

Microsoft? It would only say earlier this month that sales of the Surface, which starts at $500, had been “modest.”

ONE SURFACE OR TWO MINIS?

Does this mean the iPad mini is the better product? That’s a tricky question to answer because these are very different devices – The Surface aggressively rectangular and Windows-like, the iPad mini a, well, iPad, albeit smaller – for very different prices.

Both are quality touch-screen gadgets, yet flawed.

Few people would buy both, so it is not unfair to make comparisons – and, ultimately, a choice.

I like how John Moltz frames this (twice): For just a bit more than the price of a Surface with an add-on keyboard (which is all but required to get the most out of the device), wouldn’t you want two iPad minis?

“Turns out I would,” Moltz concluded, though he confessed to adoring much about the Surface.

I have been pondering this question, as well … and I also happen to like the Surface quite a bit.

My first hands-on experience with the tablet was an exhilarating one.

As a newspaper writer, I touch-type my interview notes as I’m conducting these conversations instead of using pen or pencil for one reason: I cannot decipher my own handwriting, especially after days or weeks have elapsed and the context of the note-taking has faded.

So I was delighted to fire up Microsoft Word on the Surface during one such interview, flip out its integrated kickstand, and send my fingers flying over its magnetically attached Type Cover (one of two Surface keyboards, and the one that has full, mechanical keys instead of the touch kind).

I loved this. I needed no time to acclimate myself to this new keyboard, and to type at maximum speed – I am a very speedy and accurate touch typist and the Surface keeps up with me nicely.

I can’t type quite as quickly nor as accurately on the rubbery, nonmechanical Touch Cover, but I’m surprised how well I did. Either Cover legitimately turns the Surface into a mini-workstation, though it is certainly no substitute for a full-featured PC or Mac notebook.

One complaint: neither Surface cover stays in place (magnetically or otherwise) when flipped closed, and tends to flop around. Apple’s iPad cover doesn’t have this problem.

SURFACE: A NICE DEVICE FOR WRITERS

I decided the Surface is a fantastic contraption for journalists who are on the move – lightweight enough not to be a burden yet the perfect size and shape for comfortable word processing via a keyboard designed brilliantly for this purpose. (After that initial flirtation with Word, I switched to Evernote, which is what I use on other computing devices for note composing and organizing.)

I also like the Surface’s “Modern” interface – once dubbed “Metro” – consisting of colored, often animated tiles set up in an adjustable grid, with each tile corresponding to an app or app function.

As I work in Evernote, I can use a finger to swipe inward from the left edge of the screen to bring other Modern-style apps such as the browser or e-mail app into view, one after the other: flip, flip flip. Fun! There’s even an option to position one app – such as Evernote – in a narrow column on the left, while I’m Web-browsing or writing in Word using the larger right-hand part of the screen.

This is all great, but there’s also much I dislike about the Surface.

Not every app is a Modern app. A few found on the Surface, like Word and other Office modules, are classic Windows apps that work in a standard desktop environment. Yes, in addition to that tiled “Start Screen,” the Surface has a conventional Windows interface. This makes the gizmo a bit schizophrenic, a sort of frankentablet, with one interface customized for touch and another for use with mouse and keyboard. Moving between the two environments is jarring.

Yet (get this), I can’t install any conventional Windows app I want. That’s because the Surface is running a limited version the Windows 8 operating system called RT that is incompatible, for the most part, with the vast assortment of classic or non-Modern PC programs. (Why? Because the Surface uses an ARM processor instead of the usual Intel or Intel-like chip.)

Only RT-enhanced apps found in an online store run on the Surface, and the store is pitifully stocked right now.

A BETTER SURFACE IS ON THE WAY

Microsoft next year will offer a version of the Surface running the full, flexible version of Windows 8 – the OS being installed on a wide range of touchscreen desktops, laptops, tablets and hybrids from third parties like Acer and Lenovo.

But why wait when you can get an iPad – and access to Apple’s vast menu of apps – right now?

You just have to decide whether to get a full-size iPad or a mini – and going with the latter entails compromises.

For one thing, it lacks a high-resolution or “Retina” display, like the one found on newer full-sized iPads (as well as on iPhones and certain MacBook Pro laptops). Having grown accustomed to a Retina environment, I found the mini’s non-Retina display jolting at first. I did get used to it, and many iPad newbies won’t care about this.

The mini has other shortcomings, such as internals that are less current or powerful, raising the possibility that it will stop being able to run iOS updates sooner than the bigger, brawnier iPad 4.

Apps designed for a bigger iPad screen are often difficult to manipulate on the mini, as well. This problem will go away as developers optimize their apps – but iPad users have weeks or months of frustration ahead.

The mini’s price is another issue. At $329 and up, it’s costlier than competing tablets of the same size. These include two Android gizmos, Google’s Asus-built Nexus 7 and Amazon’s Kindle Fire HD, both starting at $200.

Yet the iPad mini is slimmer and lighter than its rivals – and I found its battery life to be excellent.

Apps, though, are the main reason to consider investing in an iPad over any other tablet. Apple’s App Store has the best ones, hands down. Android apps also are plentiful, but fewer of these are tailored to large tablet screens, only smaller smartphone screens. (One notable new exception is Microsoft’s Skype audio/video conferencing app.)

Such scarcity of tablet-optimized apps makes the use of an Android tablet incredibly frustrating even though the hardware is nice.

SO, ONE SURFACE OR TWO MINIS?

The answer will be different for everyone – but, most I suspect, would prefer a pair of iPad minis to a single, pricey Surface.

Physically, both devices are beautifully designed. But the Surface, frankly, makes a lousy tablet.

It is too bulky and heavy to use as a bedtime e-book reader. So, to a degree, is the full-size iPad 4, of course, which is why Apple made the mini. It’s great to hold in one hand.

The Surface’s rectangular shape makes it feel odd in portrait mode for certain tasks, and just as weird in landscape mode for others. Apple has the better approach with iPad’s closer-to-square dimensions, which makes you forget about the gear and focus on the screen content regardless of the screen orientation.

What’s more, the Surface’s behavior is often balky and buggy. It is overdue for a software patch to make it feel more fluid. Apple has had two years to polish up the iOS running on its iPads – or five years, if you count the iPhone, which uses the same operating system.

But the Surface RT’s fundamental failing is its resemblance to a Windows notebook without all of a notebook’s features and flexibility. Why not just buy a laptop?

The iPad mini has no notebook pretensions. And while slightly inferior to its big brother in certain ways, it is a far better tablet than the Surface.

Moltz has it right. Get one mini for yourself, and one for your honey.

For more tablet-buying tips, read this column by Troy Wolverton of the San Jose Mercury News, the Pioneer Press’ corporate cousin.